The Best Day of the Week to Buy Everything

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Most MainStreet readers likely know that the price of any given product can vary significantly based on the time of year (peak season vs. off season, for example), but the day of the week has a significant impact on prices as well, at least online.

Extrabux, a price comparison website, analyzed prices for more than 100,000 products sold online at thousands of retailers and found that the price of TVs, computers and other consumer products can vary by anywhere from $20 to $40 from one day to the next. As a general rule the best day to buy each of these products is Monday.

Computers cost an average of $1,210 on Mondays, their lowest price of the week, and cost $1,256 on Fridays, their most expensive day of the week. That $46 difference marks the biggest dollar amount fluctuation of any product on the list and the reason, according to the report, is that computer manufacturers generally roll out their rebates and discounts at the beginning of the week.

Television prices follow a similar trend, with TVs selling for a low of $1,101 on Mondays and peaking at $1,122 on Fridays. Unlike with computers though, television prices remain relatively flat from Monday through Wednesday so any time in the first half of the week is really a good time to buy.

Prices on other electronics like cameras and video games also bottom out on Mondays and peak later in the week, and according to Extrabux, this is mainly because many consumers get back to work on Monday after the weekend and spend more time shopping online, making them more “susceptible to online promotions.” Indeed, previous reports have shown that Monday is the busiest online shopping day of the week.

Not every product is cheapest on Monday though. The report found that major appliances like washers, dryers and microwaves typically had the lowest price online on Sunday, which is also when the greatest number of people are searching for appliances on Google.

When it comes to buying online, it seems the best bet is to go with the crowd rather than against it.